NGT curbs construction by DTC on Najafgarh pond area

The plea was filed by local resident Kartar Singh, who has alleged that DTC had encroached upon 30 bigha and 5 biswa of land in the village, forming part of a water body in the village.

The National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to not carry out any fresh construction in southwest Delhi’s Najafgarh, where a bus terminal presently stands.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson justice Prakash Shrivastava asked DTC to not carry out any fresh construction. (Hindustan Times)

The directions were issued during hearing of a plea that alleged that the structure has been built by DTC by encroaching upon land belonging to a village pond (johad).

The plea was filed by local resident Kartar Singh, who has alleged that DTC had encroached upon 30 bigha and 5 biswa of land in the village, forming part of a water body in the village.

The order, uploaded on Sunday, states the allegation was later confirmed by the district magistrate, who said that the land was a water body, with no legal clearance given for any construction upon it. A bench headed by NGT chairperson justice Prakash Shrivastava asked DTC to not carry out any fresh construction, seeking explanations from other government departments within two weeks’ time on how such construction was allowed.

“The District Magistrate, South-West, Delhi has filed the reply affidavit clearly stating that the said land is recorded as Johad (water body) and at present a DTC terminal stands constructed on the said land and the water body has been encroached upon by the DTC,” said the bench.

It further pointed out with respect to the compliance of environmental norms that “there is no record available of any formal CLU (Change of Land Use) or NOC from the Forest Department for the construction activity carried out by DTC”.

The bench also observed that the land falls within the ambit of identified wetlands as per the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 and that any activity such as construction, conversion, or felling of trees on such land requires compliance of certain rules which has not been fulfilled.

In December last year, Delhi’s State Wetland Authority (SWA) informed the court that satellite imagery had found only 674 out of Delhi’s 1,367 water bodies, while the remaining were encroached upon.

“A substantial number of waterbodies are not identifiable through satellite imagery, which means that either they are illegally filled in or encroached upon, but no effective action has been taken by concerned authorities for restoration thereof,” SWA had said.